Jesse Jackson: Racism Played Role in Ebola Patient's Death

The Rev. Jesse Jackson and a Dallas County commissioner have accused a Texas hospital of racism in the death of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan.

"What role did [Duncan's] lack of privilege play in the treatment he received? He is being treated as a criminal rather than as a patient," Jackson wrote in a story for the Huffington Post this week. "As followers of Jesus, we are called to work for the day when those with privilege, most often white people, have greater access to better medical care than those whom Jesus calls 'the least of our sisters and brothers.'"

Duncan, who traveled to Dallas from Liberia on Sept. 20, contacted the disease while in the West African country — which has become ground zero in the current epidemic. He succumbed to the illness Wednesday.

Duncan visited Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital on Sept. 25 after first experiencing symptoms a day earlier. Doctors released him, seeing no major cause for concern. Reports say that Duncan told doctors he had come from West Africa.

Duncan's condition worsened and he returned to the hospital Sept. 28 by ambulance. He was isolated from other patients at the hospital to minimize the spread of the disease and was treated for Ebola up until his death.